The subject matter disclosed herein relates to nuclear imaging, and more particularly to correction of motion artifacts in single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).
A variety of imaging techniques are known and currently in use, such as for medical diagnostic applications. Certain such techniques, such as SPECT, rely on the emission of gamma rays during the radioactive decay of a radioisotope (or radionuclide), commonly administered in the form of a radiopharmaceutical agent that can be carried, and in some cases, be accumulated in or bound to particular tissues of interest. Such nuclear imaging technologies detect the emissions via a suitable gamma radiation detector. In particular, a suitable gamma radiation detector may consist of components which, in response to incident radiation, generate image data related to the quantity of radiation impacting the individual regions of the detector. The image data generated by the detector components may then be reconstructed to generate images of internal structures of the subject.
While such systems have proven extremely useful at providing high quality images with good diagnostic value, further refinement is possible. For example, in some instances motion artifacts may be introduced due to patient motion within the field of view and/or due to the motion of components of the imaging system during the acquisition of image data. In certain gamma ray detection configurations where non-parallel collimation techniques are employed, such motion may be difficult to address and may, therefore, lead to visual artifacts in images generated using the acquired image data.